An autonomic network (AN) is a network that can support self-management such as network self-configuration, network self-protection, network self-healing, and network self-optimization, and can improve a network automation degree. A key technology in the autonomic network is establishment of an autonomic control plane (ACP). The autonomic control plane ACP is a control plane in the autonomic network, and an upper-layer autonomic functional entity may use the ACP plane to transmit control signaling.
An implementation for establishing an ACP based on IPv6 (Internet Protocol Version 6) is proposed in a current technology. However, in the current technology, a network device needs to support IPv6 to establish the ACP. Consequently, compatibility of the autonomic network is poor.